Happy August! I’m gonna keep this intro short and sweet, because July was a jam-packed month and I have lots to talk about! Concerts, books, adventures, Stranger Things, and more! But first…

In case you missed it, this month I blogged about:

• Why (most) group projects are a terrible idea
• My friend Sarah’s new book, and the story behind its creation
• What we can learn about writing from a beloved Netflix series (Stranger Things)
• The songs that encouraged me throughout my junior year of college
• The short story I wrote that won a contest and was published in my school’s literary journal

You can also watch my 1 Second Everyday compilation from July below!

July went by in a blur – for the first week of the month, I was in western Pennsylvania participating in a service trip with my church. Our team demolished an old and rotting front deck and then replaced it for a family in need. Even though we had a smaller team, we were able to to complete the project by the end of the week!

A few days after I came home, I drove out to Philadelphia to see Anberlin on their 2019 North American tour with I The Mighty. I’ve always regretted not seeing them when they did their farewell tour five years ago, so I wasn’t about to miss out again. Definitely one of my favorite shows I’ve been to!

The weekend after that, Hannah and I drove out to Columbus, Ohio for Wolves At The Gate’s Eclipse CD release show. They performed with Phinehas, another band I like, so that was an added treat. WATG also played “Heralds,” a song they don’t really play live anymore, as an encore!

 

Less than a week later, Hannah and I went to see WATG again on their tour with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus in Philadelphia. Since WATG wasn’t headlining this show, we got to meet them and talk to them for a while afterwards. It was my first time meeting the band, and they were all super nice and great people!

At the end of the month, we squeezed in one last show – Fit For a King and Norma Jean at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster. It was a fantastic show (and definitely one of the hottest ones I’ve been to this summer).

In between all of those shows, I also met up with my friend Liz in Harrisburg and went to a few events held for the summer residents at my school. All in all, I was pretty busy – but I’d rather be busy than be doing nothing!

I also…

Watching…

Stranger Things season three, which I really enjoyed! I won’t say anything more than that (no spoilers here), but if you ever want to chat, just shoot me a message and we can theorize together. I also went out to theaters to see Spider-Man: Far From Home, and I was forced bribed convinced to watch the original animated The Lion King for the first time.

Reading…

The rest of V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy – A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light (which was quite the monstrosity to carry with me to work every day, let me tell you). I also finished my audiobook of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which I was more or less meh about (sorry). I also read Home by Marilynne Robinson, the sequel to her book Gilead, which I read in my American Women’s Writing class this past semester.

Listening to…

The entire Hadestown Broadway Cast Recording in all its glory – the last few songs were released towards the end of the month. I like most of the ways it differs from the live cast recording – it keeps the spirit of the songs while making good changes. My favorite thing to listen to right now is Eclipse by Wolves At The Gate though. Because we were at the CD release show, Hannah and I were able to buy the album a few weeks early. It’s definitely up there among my favorite WATG albums!

Playing…

Portal on my laptop, because both it and its sequel were super cheap during the Steam Summer Sale (shoutout to my cousin for reminding me that existed). While Portal 2 is one of my favorite games, I never made it through the original. It was pretty short, but I have a feeling I’ll be going back to try some of the challenge stages (and get those achievements…). I also picked up Moonlighter and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate again for a hot second, but otherwise, I didn’t do much gaming this month.

Working on…

A brand-new podcast! Kiara and I just recently started a podcast called (Un)Reliable Narrators, where we debate and dissect everything from movies and books to music and video games. As of this post, we’ve released a short podcast “trailer” and two full-length episodes, which you can find on Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and many other podcasting platforms (just click the Anchor link to see)!

Around the Internet

• Hannah Heath: 7 Writing Lessons Learned from Dungeons & Dragons and Why I Write About What Scares Me
• PaperFury: How To Stay Motivated When Writing Your Book
• Ann Patchett (Washington Post): Snoopy taught me how to be a writer
• Did You Know Gaming?: Koji Kondo: From Punch-Out!! to Super Mario Maker 2
• The JWittz: Let’s Talk About The National Dex (if you know, you know)
• Wolves At The Gate: “Drifter” music video
• Jordan Taylor: You struggle reading like me? Do this…please.

Gratitude

This month, I’m thankful for air mattresses, ice cream, Airbnb, texts from old friends, finally getting my car’s front bumper repaired, homemade meals, Torrid, Anberlin, safety in big cities, thrift store finds, Jimmy Johns, Family Force 5, Wolves At The Gate, air conditioning, and grilled cheese sandwiches from Sheetz.

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How was your month? What was the weather like? (It was pretty toasty for me.) What do you have coming up in August? Let’s chat in the comments!

Until next time!